Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.
Parallel translations
- KJV The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
- BSB The LORD reigns; let the nations tremble! He is enthroned above the cherubim; let the earth quake!
- NKJV The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved!
- NASB The Lord reigns, the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned above the cherubim, the earth quakes!
- NLT The Lord is king! Let the nations tremble! He sits on his throne between the cherubim. Let the whole earth quake!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The LORD reigns enthroned above the cherubim, so let the peoples tremble. His holy kingship demands reverent awe.
Overview
This enthronement psalm proclaims God as King, seated above the cherubim over the ark, the place of His earthly throne. The trembling of peoples and the shaking earth express the proper response to His holy majesty. His sovereign reign foreshadows the universal kingdom of Christ, before whom all will one day bow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Ps 97:1Yahweh reigns! Let the earth rejoice! Let the multitude of islands be glad!
- Exod 25:22There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
- Ps 97:4His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees, and trembles.
- Ps 80:1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm by Asaph. Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- Ps 93:1Yahweh reigns! He is clothed with majesty! Yahweh is armed with strength. The world also is established. It can’t be moved.
- Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
- Jer 49:21The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Red Sea.
- Luke 19:12He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
- Ps 96:10Say among the nations, “Yahweh reigns.” The world is also established. It can’t be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.
- Ps 18:10He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.
- Jer 4:24I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.
- Rev 11:17saying: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned.
- Jer 50:46At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles; and the cry is heard among the nations.
- Luke 19:27But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”
- Isa 19:14Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
- Ps 2:11–12Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
- Jer 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’
- Ps 2:6“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
- Luke 19:14But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’
- Phil 2:12So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
- Rev 6:14The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
- Ps 21:8–9Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you.
- Isa 24:19–20The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently.
- Ps 82:5They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- Ezek 10:1–22Then I looked, and see, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 99:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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